In his novel Entangled, Graham Hancock spun a tale suggesting that Neanderthals were way more creative than the violent homo sapiens who wiped them out. New research suggests that Hancock may have been right, reported by James Noble Wilford in the New York Times:

Stone Age artists were painting red disks, handprints, clublike symbols and geometric patterns on European cave walls long before previously thought, in some cases more than 40,000 years ago, scientists reported on Thursday, after completing more reliable dating tests that raised a possibility that Neanderthals were the artists.

A more likely situation, the researchers said, is that the art — 50 samples from 11 caves in northwestern Spain — was created by anatomically modern humans fairly soon after their arrival in Europe.

The findings seem to put an exclamation point to a run of recent discoveries: direct evidence from fossils that Homo sapiens populations were living in England 41,500 to 44,200 years ago and in Italy 43,000 to 45,000 years ago, and that they were making flutes in German caves about 42,000 years ago.

Coast To Coast AM's George Noory talks with author Graham Hancock on the subject of the battle of good and evil and Hancock's novel Entangled which focusses on that mystery. Hancock enters the conversation at about 11:34 in the YouTube video below (right after a recording of Prince Charles reading the weather for Scotland).

I’m best known for my big non-fiction investigations of historical mysteries but I’m trying a new path as a novelist to celebrate my 60s and I’m grateful for any support my readers are willing to give me. My first novel, Entangled, explores big, cutting edge ideas about time-travel, out-of-body and near-death experiences, consciousness, pre-history, the battle of good and evil, and the mystery of reality but does so in the form of fast-moving tale of fantasy and adventure. Very few of my non-fiction readers have yet taken a look at this novel but at less than $1 for this week only why not give it a go?
Here are the links again: iTunes | B&N Nook | Kindle
Here’s a synopsis and some background information on the science behind Entangled, and a video trailer below. I hope you enjoy the book,
—Graham

Marijuana won’t be legalized anytime soon. But that’s OK. Because what I’m about to tell you is going to make weed look like the cheap high it is.

When everyone catches wind of what I’m about to tell you — the establishment will be tripping over themselves to legalize every single drug in the book to keep from losing you as a customer. That’s how powerful this secret I’m about to reveal to you is. . . Your brain produces a chemical known as DMT; one of the most powerful hallucinogens in existence.

Reports of encountering “multidimensional machine elves” are common. And your brain produces this chemical naturally. In fact they say DMT is what makes us dream. Now what if there was a way to release this chemical into your body on demand? It would obviously have to be a form of self-hypnosis; a way of “tricking” your brain into mass-producing and releasing this chemical.… Read the rest

One of the highlights of Graham Hancock’s lecture in support of his new book Entangled is when he shows us how the mythological character that he refers to as “Father Christmas” (better known in the U.S. as Santa Claus) has much in common with Siberian Tungus shamans who fly high on fly agaric (amanita muscaria) mushrooms, eaten by reindeer whose urine is then drunk by the shamans — and whose urine is then drunk by villagers, passing through up to seven bladders before potency is lost. Gross, right? Yes, but effective!

disinformation reader Dainius sent along a link to a similar account, saying it’s “about how the meme of Santa Claus was born in the minds of tribal psychonauts, and shows the fascinating links between Christmas and shamanism,” by Mark Adams at the Aminam Recro blog:

These red and white mushrooms, Amanita muscaria, were found in an alpine forest around Creede, Colorado.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Evolver the Podcast. In this episode we have interviews with Graham Hancock, bestselling author of Fingerprints of the Gods, The Sign and the Seal, Supernatural, and most recently Entangled. After that we interview Robin Gunkel who is a regional coordinator for Evolver Baltimore. Then we have Erin Shaw from Evolver LA interviewing Daniel Pinchbeck, co-founder of Evolver, and bestselling author of Breaking Open The Head, 2012 the Return of Quetzalcoatl, and most recently Notes from the Edge Times.

This episode features an interview with Graham Hancock, author of Fingerprints of the Gods, Supernatural, The Sign and the Seal, and the recently released Entangled. We discuss Graham's influential work in the field of alternative history, 2012, his recent shift from non-fiction to fiction, and his views on the "War on Consciousness."

Disinformation: The Podcast is a monthly series featuring interviews with authors, artists and filmmakers about topics related to politics, the occult, conspiracy, magick, hidden history, spirituality, fringe science, and much more. Past interviews include Jim Marrs, Douglas Rushkoff, and the legendary Alan Moore.

Graham Hancock took time out of his North American book tour promoting his novel Entangled to spend a week at Reality Sandwich's retreat in Boulder, Utah. Courtesy of Andrew Hasse, here he is at the RS 2009 retreat talking about religion, spirituality, shamanism and the supernatural.